This morning driving to school, I fell in behind a double tanker truck on a narrow, winding road impossible to pass. The truck was going about 18 mph, but it was exuding a very, very, very, smelly stink, like a sewer.
I always drive w/ my windows open (and the heater on if need be), so by the time I rolled up my windows, my car was filled w/ this truly obnoxious odor for the 12 minutes or so it took me to get to a favorable passing location. That was the good providence that happened this morning!
Huh? Well, at 11:00, still before lunch, a woman from the office who usually parks near me, came into my room to tell me that my right, rear tire was completely, totally flat, like on the rim.
It was already 2:45 in the afternoon before I had time for Triple A to fix my tire. He asked me to back my car, and when I got inside—Whew!! The stench was still quite strong. I opened all four of my windows to air out the car.
He fixed the tire (It was a two inch nail driven in backwards—head side first!); I had a meeting I was eager to get to; friends had stopped by with whom I was talking, and the kindly tow driver had a dialogue and agenda of his own.
So finally I paid him for the repair, reparked my car, rolled up the windows, tossed my keys into my purse, locked the car, tossed my purse into the trunk, and finally slammed the trunk behind me.
Went to the meeting; went to my room to finish up; went to lock my classroom door at 5:00 with the dusk beginning to descend, Wha-lah! no car keys! Cell phone beeping like crazy that my battery is dead! So what is providential in all this?
Well—in my distraction and haste to get to the meeting, I had neglected to roll up window number four! So, I was able to get into the car to open the trunk and see if indeed my keys were in there. The thing is, if my car had not been STINKING! I would never have rolled down all four windows for a 10 second drive in reverse!
God knew this morning how depleted my own battery would be by the end of the day, and He spared me another 45 minutes alone in the dark w/ no phone waiting for Triple A a second time. And, He didn’t even tell me that’s what He was doing. Good news is I hadn't been too misbehaved as I crawled along at 18 mph behind that stinky truck!
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